The "three-stage" high-efficiency reading method is used by people with very good thinking. How about you?
"How to read a book" indicates that when you are reading, you have to imagine yourself as a detective, trying to find useful clues and get to the truth. In this process, the most difficult thing is to get rid of irrelevant information and extract the most important parts.
The original book divides the reading into four levels: first, basic reading; second, inspection readings; third, analytical reading; fourth, reading the topic. For details, see the previous article: About "How To Read Books"
A little analysis will find that basic reading refers to literacy problems and sentence segmentation which is a problem of basic reading ability. Thematic reading refers to reading different books based on the same topic, so there are only two levels to reading a book. Readings: inspection readings and analysis readings. The inspection reading is divided into two parts: "systematic skimming reading" and "shallow reading".
In this way, we can divide reading into three stages: skimming, thorough reading, and intensive reading.
1. Skimming: Seeing flowers
Skimming is to view a book in general for a limited time (such as half an hour or an hour), the main purpose of which is to give us a general understanding of the book.
When dealing with strangers, the first thing we see is their appearance, such as facial features, figure, clothes, etc. This also applies to the odd book. We have to analyze the book title first and look at the front cover and back cover or the slogan on the belt, then look at the foreword and additional notes.
Of course, the focus of skimming is on the table of contents, from which you can understand how the book is laid out, and finally select some important chapters from the table of contents, or the chapters you are more interested in. Read a few pages here and read there A few pages to see if this book is to your liking, this is very important.
Another place that's easy to miss is the end of the book. Some experienced writers often summarize the contents of the book here, so that readers can better understand the views and values of this book.
Once the skimming is over, we are no longer completely foreign to the book, and we can decide whether to keep reading and how much effort it will take to read.
Second, read: one way
Reading means reading an entire book, but unlike popular reading methods, reading thoroughly is also time-limited. We have to read the book at once, try not to stop, and wander around in places we don't understand. the past, you can understand as much as you can understand.
Why many people read only the beginning of the book, or don't read half of it, because at this reading stage, they don't master the rhythm of reading, and spend too much time reading over and over, trying to understand all the content. The result is half way.
To maintain consistency and efficiency in reading, you can put your index finger on the text and move quickly, so that your eyes and brain work hard to keep up with your finger speed. Don't worry about missing out on important content, read it entirely, even if you can only understand half or three. One section is also very useful. The most important thing is that we understand this book at a macro level.
The reading of the common man ends with an incoherent reading. However, for the discerning reader, this is only the beginning. In order for a good book to really benefit you, it is the third stage that is most important, the intensive reading stage.
3. Intensive reading: chew slowly
In short, what we need to do at this stage are three things:
The first thing is to find out the context of the entire book. Why are the chapters in this book arranged in such a way? What are the relationships between the various paragraphs in each chapter? Through these questions, understand how the author structured book content.
The second thing is to think from the author's point of view and understand the main points of the whole book. We can use one paragraph to describe the main content of this book, and at the same time learn to find out what the author wants to express from the key words and sentences.
For example, the book I read recently is called "Deliberate Exercise", which contains keywords that come up frequently, which are translated as "mental representations." The author believes that this is the boundary between masters and newcomers. If we do not have a good understanding of the meaning of this word, it will be difficult for us to understand the essence of this book.
The third thing is to make your own evaluation of this book. Once you have fully understood this book, would you not have something to say about it? After reading the book in depth, you will have a desire to evaluate it. You can say that I disagree with the views in the book, or you can say that I don't like it, but you have to understand the difference between the two, that is, it is necessary to distinguish between objective knowledge and personal likes and dislikes.
At the intensive reading stage, we may need to write down many things that can be written directly in the book. Additionally, some people are also in the habit of drawing mind maps or writing summary notes, these are all good ways to do it according to personal habits.
After completing these three steps, it can be said that this book is yours, that you have fully understood the contents of this book, and that your level of thinking has gone up to a higher level through this book. "Books are the ladder of human progress", this is true, but the premise is to master the correct method of reading.